Juneau

Juneau is the most isolated state capital in the country — no road connects it to the rest of Alaska or the continent. Hemmed between steep coastal mountains and the deep waters of the Gastineau Channel in the Southeast panhandle, the city can be reached only by ferry or aircraft. It grew from an 1880 gold strike into the territorial and then state capital, perched on a thin shelf of land beneath the peaks.

The setting is spectacular and confining at once. The Juneau Icefield spills down behind the city, feeding the Mendenhall Glacier that reaches almost to the suburbs, while the channel carries cruise ships and fishing boats past the waterfront. Temperate rainforest cloaks the slopes in deep green. The sheer difficulty of reaching Juneau has fueled periodic debate about moving Alaska's capital to the road system near Anchorage.

• Alaska
  The largest U.S. state, a sub-Arctic giant located in
• Anchorage
  Alaska's largest city, between mountains and sea same state